When there's no napping at naptime
Categories: Just For Moms, Toddlers, Safety, Sleep
I am sitting here in my little makeshift office. It's a closet, really, a temporary bus stop until I move in to a new house, and there is a painfully sweet cup of tea on one side of me and a disorganized mass of sticky notes on the other, reminders of who to call and what I need to do once my toddler goes down for his nap at 1:00. Except it is 1:37, for the love of Pete, and he is still babbling in there. And I can't concentrate on anything except his rustling and sporadic moaning.
Until recently, Nolan used to go down for his 1:00 nap as easy as strawberry custard pie. I would read him a story about the little boy who hates his Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, we'd pretend to hoot like owls, I would wrap him in his blanket, present him with kitty, and lay him in his bed. Then we'd blow kisses at each other and I'd retreat slowly back to my desk.
I don't know what happened, but suddenly there is no sleeping at nap time. He rustles around in his bed, making peeping and hiccuping noises and singing odd little moany songs. I just peeked my head around his door and he was doing a half-handstand. The hell?
It's now 1:42. He has been rustling around in there for almost an hour, with no sign of shut-eye. He's only 21 months old -- is this already the end of nap time? I thought all the surprises were done -- experienced Internet Moms, what is the meaning of this absurdity?
Until recently, Nolan used to go down for his 1:00 nap as easy as strawberry custard pie. I would read him a story about the little boy who hates his Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, we'd pretend to hoot like owls, I would wrap him in his blanket, present him with kitty, and lay him in his bed. Then we'd blow kisses at each other and I'd retreat slowly back to my desk.
I don't know what happened, but suddenly there is no sleeping at nap time. He rustles around in his bed, making peeping and hiccuping noises and singing odd little moany songs. I just peeked my head around his door and he was doing a half-handstand. The hell?
It's now 1:42. He has been rustling around in there for almost an hour, with no sign of shut-eye. He's only 21 months old -- is this already the end of nap time? I thought all the surprises were done -- experienced Internet Moms, what is the meaning of this absurdity?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Catherine 5-08-2007 @ 2:08PM
My oldest gave up his naps at 18m old. There was just too much to do, too much to get into for him to waste time sleeping! LOL
Reply
Kellie 5-08-2007 @ 2:22PM
My son tried to give up his nap at that age. I just kept him in his room for the same amount of nap time. It was about a month of him talking and playing and then he started sleeping again. He is 4 now and on days he doesn't have school, we nap.
Reply
Vesna 5-08-2007 @ 3:31PM
What the...?
My child is three years old. Over the entire duration of his life, he's taken, on average, about a nap a week. I'm including his first weeks of life. You thought all the surprises were done? Whenever he takes a nap, we're surprised. Count your blessings.
Reply
Amanda 5-08-2007 @ 2:58PM
he's just growing, hang in there. Like Kellie, I left my daughter in her bed, she was content to just hum and play with her aquarium toy and she eventually started sleeping again. As long as they get a little down time they won't be complete monsters in the afternoon!
Reply
shannon 5-08-2007 @ 3:11PM
my daughter will try to fight it I keep her in there for as long as she would nap. She eventually falls asleep. If she is not sleeping, she is having some great down time with her stuffed animals. If 2 hours goes by then I take her out and put her to bed earlier!!!
Reply
Jill 5-08-2007 @ 5:14PM
I've had to adjust the time of naps several times. Once they went to only one nap it was at 12:30, right after lunch. Pretty soon, that fall, he started "school" and didn't get home til 1pm. He was exhausted and barely made it to his bed without falling asleep first. Later that next year I adjusted it to 1:30. Now, at 3 y.o., we've moved to 2pm. Any sooner and he never does sleep. See if that works, or see if waiting it out helps. If all else fails, start having "rest time" instead of a nap. At around 3 1/2 I taught my first son to work his CD player and allowed books or books on tape during rest time. He still fell asleep often, but he was required to rest quietly for a full hour... because I needed it!
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emily 5-09-2007 @ 9:48AM
It sounds like just about everything has been covered here, but I always think about illness when my daughter's sleeping patterns change. I agree with the down time theory, I always leave her in her crib for one hour (unless she's upset or crying of course).
Reply
Jessica 5-09-2007 @ 12:25PM
I would agree with above posters that even down time is worthwhile. The first thing that popped inmy head was a growth spurt. All of my daughter's routines change when she is growing.
As far as lying in his crib and "talking", my daughter does this every night for an hour or so before falling asleep. My husband and I briefly considered keeping her up later but decided not to for two reasons. One, the down time is good for her. Two, the fact that she has absolutely no problem hanging out all by herself makes us ecstatic.
Let him hang out. Better than nothing for you and good alone-time for him. perhaps you can put on your ipod and listen to some music while you work.
Reply